Senior journalist and editor of 'Hai Bengaluru' Ravi Belagere, passes away

Bengaluru, Nov 13: 62-year-old prominent Bengaluru-based journalist and writer Ravi Belagere passed away on Friday morning. According to reports, Ravi suffered a heart attack on Thursday night at tabloid 'Hai Bangalore' office. He was declared dead by Apollo Hospitals in Bengaluru where he was admitted on Thursday night. Ravi was survived by two sons, two daughters and his wife.

Ravi was running the Kannada tabloid as the editor-in-chief which he started in 1995. He started his career as a history lecturer in Ballari. He came to Bengaluru in 1984 and worked as receptionist at a lodging facility. He took up many low paying jobs and worked to distribute newspapers and milk.

Ravi Belagere's tabloid became known for its large coverage of the Bengaluru underworld and the dreaded gangsters in the city. His volume in the tabloid including Love Lavike, Khaas Baat and Paapigala Lokadalli became extremely popular.

Apart from being a noted journalist, Ravi has authored 70 books. Among other works, his Kannada translation of 'Himalayan Blunder' enjoyed lasting popularity.

In 2017, he was embroiled in a controversy after the Karnataka Assembly sentenced him to one year imprisonment for alleged "defamatory writings" against Congress MLA BM Nagaraj and BJP MLA SR Viswanath.

At that time he had prevented his arrest by getting himself admitted to the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences in Hubballi.

Ravi and Anil Raju of Yelahanka Voice - was sentenced in June, 2017 to one year in prison and fined Rs 10,000 each, by the then Karnataka Assembly Speaker KB Koliwad, a move that was criticised by many in the media. However, the editors got relief from the Karnataka High Court.

Later that year he was arrested by Central Crime Branch in a separate incident for allegedly hiring a contract killer to murder a fellow journalist Sunil Heggaravalli. Then the police had said that they had found a double barrel gun and 41 bullets, deer skin, 1.5x1.5 ft tortoise shell and a revolver and 53 bullets.